Use these links to go
[CHAPTER SIX
THE ROMANCES
Pericles, Cymbeline,
The Winter's Tale and The Tempest]
- 341 -
- - - IV - - -
The Tempest has many elements in common with the three previous romances, and Tillyard's contention, that it 'gains much in lucidity when supported by the others', 6.113 should serve as a reminder that a critical analysis of the play should not view it in isolation. Zimbardo, on the other hand, maintains that 'its meaning becomes obscured in such a
context', 6.114 but her conclusion is based on an appraisal concentrating on one particular aspect to the exclusion of all others: 'the theme of The Tempest is not regeneration through suffering, but the eternal conflict between order and chaos, the attempt of art to impose form upon the formless and chaotic'. 6.115 Two points should be made here: firstly, the conflict between order and chaos is not absent from the earlier romances, and although it is admittedly given more prominence in The Tempest, it remains a valid area of comparison; and secondly, regeneration is an important theme in all of the romances, not excepting The Tempest. It is quite wrong to emphasise one aspect at the expense of the other, and my analysis will show that not only are both present in The Tempest, but that they are inseparably linked.
The sea storm with which the play opens, like its antecedents in The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night, Pericles and The Winter's Tale, heralds a period of separation and suffering which may be regarded as a rite of passage into a new and productive life for those caught up in it. Similarly we may note that in The Merchant of Venice Antonio's ships are lost at sea, resulting in his financial ruin on the Rialto, and in The Two Gentlemen of Verona the sea journey can be associated with the change in Proteus' character. Closer in dramatic effect to The Tempest are the stormy opening of Macbeth, and the violent storms in Othello and King Lear. Details differ from one play to the next, but the essential theme remains the same: the storm itself always reflects some disorder which must be put to rights before harmony can be achieved, and in the romances particular emphasis is given to this by presenting the storms on the stage, whereas in the earlier comedies they are merely reported. In addition, the idea is further underlined in The Tempest by the play's name itself, and by the fact that the action starts in medias res, with the storm at its height and disorder already well founded. McGovern finds particular significance in the name of the play, associating it with not only the violence of the storm, but also with emotional 'inward turmoil', and with the concept of time - 'a period, an occasion'. 6.116 A useful distinction may be drawn between Shakespeare's use of the words 'storm', never used figuratively in The Tempest, and 'tempest', usually associated by Shakespeare in its figurative use with spiritual turmoil. 6.117 It is probably important, therefore, that the only three occurrences of 'tempest' in The Tempest are spoken by Prospero, 6.118 who knows of the emotional upheaval awaiting the subjects of his magic.
Coleridge correctly identifies one of the dramatic functions of the
- 343 -
storm as serving to introduce the play, but he errs, curiously, in minimising its violence:
It is the bustle of a tempest, from which the real horrors are abstracted; - therefore it is poetical, though not in strictness natural - ... and is purposely restrained from concentering the interest on itself, but used merely as an induction or tuning for what is to follow. 6.119
On the other hand, Quiller-Couch goes to great lengths to show that the storm is realistically presented by Shakespeare, 6.120 as it must be if it is to convince us of the disordered state it represents. We may conclude that if the playwright did not achieve τά έτυμα, he did at least succeed in attaining Hesiod's έτύμοισω όμοϊα, 6.121 and we are caught up not only in the excitement of the storm itself, but also in the conflicts it generates among those on board the stricken ship. The storm is an economical device for introducing to us some of the important characters in the play, although none of them is given a name as yet. Gonzalo is seen to be kindly, good humoured, and a proponent of order: in his remonstrance with the Boatswain he twice calls him 'good' as an appeasing gesture (I.i.15 and 19), 6.122 trying to calm the seamen and restore order, particularly where respect for the King is concerned:
Anth.
Where is the Master, Boson?
Botes.
Do you not heare him? you marre our labour,
Keepe your Cabines: you do assist the storme.
Gonz.
Nay, good be patient.
Botes.
When the Sea is: hence, what cares these roarers for the name of King? to Cabine; silence: trouble vs not.
Gon.
Good, yet remember whom thou hast aboord.
Botes.
None that I more loue then my selfe.
(I.i.12-20)
This conversation reflects, in miniature, some of the main themes of the play. Gonzalo assumes that on board the ship the King should be the highest authority, but the Boatswain takes command (in the absence of the Ship-Master), recognising that the highest authority, to whom all must submit, is the storm itself. His words, 'you do assist the storme' point to the fact that quarrelling over power results in a heightening of disorder, and as we soon learn, the storm owes its very existence to a serious disorder in government. Gonzalo, however, has the last word, firmly placing himself on the side of order with his prayer, 'the wills aboue be done' (I.i.66), which follows agreeably on his thrice-repeated joke at the Boatswain's expense, 6.123 that the latter was 'borne to bee hang'd' (I.i.32-33). We should not see in Gonzalo's prognostication any
- 344 -
emphasis on the idea of a violent death for the seaman: on the contrary, the prediction is a good-natured attempt at restoring confidence to those on board the distressed ship - by bringing the Boatswain to land, the gods will ensure that justice is done and order is restored. The joke's repetition also serves to delineate the character of Gonzalo, who, being old and forgetful, is inclined to repeat himself, something which helps to put Antonio and Sebastian 'out of patience' (I.i.54), and they give verbal expression to their frustration:
[Botes.]
What do you heere? Shal we giue ore and drowne, haue you a minde to sinke?
Sebas.
A poxe o' your throat, you bawling, blasphemous incharitable Dog.
Botes.
Worke you then.
Anth.
Hang cur, hang, you whoreson insolent Noysemaker, we are lesse afraid to be drownde, then thou art.
(I.i.38-45)
The violence of their language betrays an inner predisposition to violence which is opposed to Gonzalo's more even-tempered nature.
When the royal party next appears this opposition is developed further. Antonio and Sebastian now employ their verbal acrimony in mocking Gonzalo, whose every word they twist and misinterpret to their own amusement, and, no doubt, that of the audience. Just as facets of their characters were revealed by their language in the storm, so now their harassment of Gonzalo and Adrian shows their deep seated corruption in that they are incapable of seeing good, and constantly turn images of life and regeneration into festering decay:
Adr.
It must needs be of subtle, tender, and delicate temperance.
Ant.
Temperance was a delicate wench.
Seb.
I, and a subtle, as he most learnedly deliuer'd.
Adr.
The ayre breathes vpon vs here most sweetly.
Seb.
As if it had Lungs, and rotten ones.
Ant.
Or, as 'twere perfumed by a Fen.
Gon.
Heere is euery thing aduantageous to life.
Ant.
True, saue meanes to liue.
Seb.
Of that there's none, or little.
(II.i.41-50)
Sexual disorder is not one of the faults in Antonio and Sebastian which Shakespeare stresses, but it receives passing notice here in their reference to Temperance, and then again in the mocking of Gonzalo's commonwealth, peopled, in their surmise, solely by 'Whores and knaues' (II.i.162). In view of this it is quite possible that the apparently comic allusions to 'Widdow Dido' (II.i.73-77 and 95-97), which have
- 345 -
'never been properly explained', 6.124 also have sexual undertones; in any case, the displacing of the sexual function from its true position in life, as a means of regeneration through procreation, is typical of these disordered characters, and reflects a similar disorder in Caliban. For such people the island does indeed lack 'meanes to liue': it is a place of order and harmony, with 'euery thing aduantageous to life' and has no room for those who would destroy its equilibrium.
Although Antonio and Sebastian have the upper hand in their humorous conflict with Gonzalo, their adversary comes off best in the eyes of the audience, and their frivolity is a foil for his calm, sanguine approach to the straits they find themselves in. His wit matches theirs in the matters of 'dollor' and 'Dolour' (II.i.18-19), and laughing at nothing (II.i.167-175); and he is right in the assertion that Tunis was Carthage. 6.125 The mistake of making himself king in his commonwealth where there is to be 'No Soueraignty' (II.i.152) is naturally seized upon by Antonio and Sebastian for further fun at his expense, but this serves only to highlight their lack of understanding and their indifference to the merits of an ordered, productive state. Gonzalo's dream is impossible to achieve, an ideal which holds no appeal to Antonio and Sebastian in their quest for disorder:
... Treason, fellony,
Sword, Pike, Knife, Gun, or neede of any Engine
Would I not haue: but Nature should bring forth
Of it owne kinde, all foyzon, all abundance
To feed my innocent people.
(II.i.156-160)
In this speech the concepts of order and regeneration, germane to the play, are inextricably linked, since in the absence of disorder Nature will provide all needs; and conversely, if Nature is bountiful there will be no need for wars, as all will have enough. The reaction to this by Alonso, immersed in his grief at the loss of Ferdinand, and perhaps preoccupied with his own guilt, registers the same breakdown in communication Hermione experienced in The Winter's Tale - he cannot grasp what is being said: 'thou dost talke nothing to me' (II.i.166). 6.126 Antonio, on the other hand, shows his disdain for such concepts as voiced by Gonzalo, not only in his mocking retorts, but also in the treason he jointly plots with Sebastian.
Their intended violence is only suspended when Ariel intervenes, and so the tension created by the murder plot is sustained. It is Gonzalo
- 346 -
who is used by Ariel to alert Alonso to the danger he is in, and this is in keeping with his function as an agent of order in the play. He had earlier prevented Antonio's bid for the lives of Prospero and Miranda from coming to fruition, and in this he resembles Camillo as a type of old, faithful servant - but the fact that he is old makes him fallible, and it is by no means certain that Alonso will escape a further attempt on his life. Several commentators have remarked on what they see as a lack of tension and conflict in The Tempest, largely because Prospero is seen to be so powerful as to make his success inevitable; 6.127 but like Gonzalo, he is an old man, and thus forgetful, irascible and unpredictable. Furthermore, he has many areas of activity in the plot, and the audience cannot but be enveloped in their related tensions and varying degrees of success. Prospero's wish is, like Gonzalo's, to impose order, but this brings him into conflict with nearly every character in the play. He is at odds with Ariel, whom he keeps at enforced labour; he is under serious threat from Caliban, who, although bestial, shows his primitive cunning in leading Stephano and Trinculo; he wishes to reform Alonso and Antonio against their wills, but even while he is about it there is the further corruption of Sebastian to rectify, and Alonso to protect; and finally, he goes out of his way to make the winning of Miranda by Ferdinand a difficult task, and this unites them against him. For Prospero to accomplish all of this the must indeed be a powerful magician, but we are not bored by his power; rather, we anxiously watch his every move. It is wrong to suggest that the principal conflict and violence of the play, Antonio's usurping of Prospero's power, is over before the action starts: the events related by Prospero, which led up to the present crisis, have not yet been resolved, and this is the major concern of the action. The subsidiary plots by Caliban and his friends on Prospero's life, and Antonio and Sebastian on Alonso's life, heighten the dramatic tension, and also serve to bring the distant past events of the main plot, by their similarity, closer to the play.
It was Prospero's studying of his magic Art that cost him his dukedom, and it is this same Art which he intends to use in restoring himself to power, returning order to Milan. It also brings him into conflict with Ariel and Caliban, both of whom resent the power he exerts over them. Ariel has only one brief display of rebellion, but it is dramatically important in that it leads to an exposition of his past disobedience to Sycorax, and it also serves to reveal something of
- 347 -
Prospero - his quick temper, his ruthlessness when roused, and his control over elemental spirits. The punishment Sycorax inflicted on Ariel is reported in such a way as to make it seem unreasonably harsh:
... she did confine thee
By helpe of her more potent Ministers,
And in her most vnmittigable rage,
Into a clouen Pyne, within which rift
Imprison'd, thou didst painefully remaine
A dozen yeeres ....
(I.ii.274-279)
Prospero himself gives this account, and then a few moments later we find him in his own 'vnmittigable rage' threatening Ariel with the same punishment: 6.128
If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an Oake
And peg-thee in his knotty entrailes, till
Thou hast howl'd away twelue winters.
(I.ii.294-296)
His treatment of Caliban is equally rigorous shortly afterwards:
For this be sure, to night thou shalt haue cramps,
Side-stitches, that shall pen thy breath vp, Vrchins
Shall for that vast of night, that they may worke
All exercise on thee: thou shalt be pinch'd
As thicke as hony-combe, each pinch more stinging
Then Bees that made 'em.
(I.ii.327-332)
Prospero justifies this treatment by observing that Caliban is one 'Whom stripes may moue, not kindnes' (I.ii.347), but he never refutes Caliban's claim to ownership of the island, and the sway he holds over Ariel and Caliban is, in a sense, tyrannical. A man who is capable of treating fellow-beings in this way will surely extend no mercy to his enemies once they are in his power, and, as de Grazia says, 'the question of what he intends to do to his enemies before he decides to forgive them becomes more acute'. 6.129 Prospero's soured relationships with Ariel and Caliban near the start of the play, and his threatened violence to them, make his future course of revenge uncertain, thus introducing a source of dramatic tension.
Ariel is immediately submissive to Prospero after being rebuked by him, and for the remainder of the play he carries out his tasks joyfully and efficiently: his happiness when he has finished his work and liberty is at hand is almost childish, expressed in one of Shakespeare's
- 348 -
most charming lyrics:
On the Batts backe I doe flie
after Sommer merrily.
Merrily, merrily, shall I liue now,
Vnder the blossom that hangs on the Bow.
(V.i.91-94)
It is partly this promise of freedom which makes Ariel so tractable, but another explanation lies in what we are told of his conflict with Sycorax - Prospero says of him,
... thou wast a Spirit too delicate
To act her earthy, and abhord commands.
(I.ii.272-273)
This indicates that Ariel, being a spirit of some principle, will not knowingly commit wrong, and so he is willing to serve Prospero in his quest for order. The idea that Shakespeare's concept of Ariel may have been suggested by what Kermode refers to as 'an obscure passage in Isaiah XXIX', 6.130 despite being ably expounded by Slater, 6.131 has not gained general approval. The name is derived from the Septuagint's Άριήλ, which, according to the Geneva Bible marginal note, 'signifieth the lyon of God & signifieth ye altar', but Simpson and Weiner give the more commonly accepted idea that it stands for Jerusalem. 6.132 Slater remarks that Shakespeare would probably have been familiar with the passage in Isaiah, 6.133 and apart from the various details this passage has in common with The Tempest, 6.134 the general tenor of the biblical text is regeneration:
The meke in the Lord shal receiue ioye againe, and the poore men shal reioyce in the holie one of Israel. ... Then they that erred in spirit, shal haue vnderstanding, and they that murmured, shal learne doctrine.
(Isaiah 29:19 and 24)
Both the altar and Jerusalem are associated with redemption, the one as the setting for the ritual sacrifice of atonement and the other as the Holy City, and to impart the property of redemption to Ariel is not unreasonable, as he is Prospero's principal means of salvation and the restoration of order. His brief conflict with his master serves the dramatic function of allowing Prospero to recount his history, thus introducing him to the audience as an agent of order, and Ariel's quick submission to Prospero reveals the awesome extent of the magus' power.
Whatever success Prospero has in controlling Ariel, he is unable to
- 349 -
repeat in the case of Caliban, and this must be attributed to the latter's bestial nature. He is described in the 'Names of the Actors' as 'a saluage and deformed slaue', 6.135 and his character owes much to descriptions of primitive men reported by returning explorers. 6.136 Hankins has observed, however, that Caliban should not be regarded as the 'noble savage' of Montaigne, since he has 'no sense of right and wrong, and therefore sees no difference between good and evil'. 6.137 He is the antithesis of Guiderius and Arviragus in Cymbeline: their noble birth manifested itself despite their humble upbringing, while the unregenerate Caliban, given all the benefits of learning, continues to reveal his base and unnatural birth in his conduct. In him are concentrated all the evils and disorders which appear in the play. His lust for Miranda is a perversion of an orderly sexual relationship; his desire for power leads him to contemplate murder, much as Antonio had done in Milan; his propensity for alcohol reflects the minor, somewhat comic, disorders of Stephano and Trinculo; his refusal to work for Prospero is a symptom of his egocentricity, in that he has no conception of the welfare of others or his community, and all his acts are motivated by self-interest. What best summarises this catalogue of faults is his attitude to Art - civilisation and learning:
You taught me Language, and my profit on't
Is, I know how to curse: the red-plague rid you
For learning me your language.
(I.ii.365-367)
For Shakespeare words were the very means of existence, and for him to have given Caliban these sentiments is a severe indictment indeed. Despite this, we should note that Caliban curses in verse, and beautifully, unlike his counterparts in the main action, Antonio and Sebastian:
As wicked dewe, as ere my mother brush'd
With Rauens feather from vnwholesome Fen
Drop on you both: A Southwest blow on yee,
And blister you all ore.
(I.ii.323-326)
Such poetry brings Caliban, as we conceive him, closer to Nature, since his instinctive recourse is to natural and supernatural phenomena, seen again when he eloquently expresses his rancour:
... then I lou'd thee
- 350 -
And shew'd thee all the qualities o'th' Isle,
The fresh Springs, Brine-pits; barren place and fertill,
Curs'd be I that did so: All the Charmes
Of Sycorax: Toades, Beetles, Batts light on you:
For I am all the Subiects that you haue,
Which first was mine owne King ....
(I.ii.338-344)
This poetic quality in Caliban is evidence of his superior intelligence, for although bestial he is cunning. 6.138 His fellow conspirators speak largely prose, which is in keeping with their lower intellect and comic status in the play.
Stephano and Trinculo make their first appearance during a storm, as had their counterparts in the main plot, but in this case the violence of the storm is considerably diminished and it serves as a vehicle for comedy, as well as reflecting the disorder associated with these low-life characters. The stage direction reads 'Enter Caliban, with a burthen of Wood (a noyse of Thunder heard.)' (II.ii.0), and the uncharacteristic sight of Caliban submitting to Prospero, carrying wood, is qualified as soon as he speaks:
All the infections that the Sunne suckes vp
From Bogs, Fens, Flats, on Prosper fall, and make him
By ynch-meale a disease ....
(II.ii.1-3)
Caliban's poetic malevolence gives way to the prose of comedy when Trinculo enters, and the lowering of tone is completed when Stephano enters singing, in his alcoholic merriment, sailors' bawdy songs. The scene ends in a riot of disorder, with the promise of insurrection as 'Caliban Sings drunkenly' (II.ii.177) his song of defiance: all thoughts of carrying wood, as he was when he entered, have been forgotten in his drunken ecstasy:
Freedome, high-day, high-day freedome, freedome high-day, freedome.
(II.ii.186-187)
When the three next appear the plan against Prospero begins to take shape, but not without much comic disagreement between Caliban and Trinculo - a conflict which is humorously forwarded by Ariel to such an extent that Stephano resorts to beating Trinculo to silence what he supposes are his allegations of lying. Comic though this violence is, it lends a sense of disorder to the scene and it blends well with what immediately follows, Caliban's relishing of the idea of murdering
- 351 -
Prospero, expressed in excessively violent terms:
... thou maist braine him,
Hauing first seiz'd his bookes: Or with a logge
Batter his skull, or paunch him with a stake,
Or cut his wezand with thy knife.
(III.ii.86-89)
Equally abhorrent is Caliban's intention of handing Miranda over to Stephano, saying she will 'bring thee forth braue brood' (III.ii.103) - Miranda is viewed as a useful object of lust, both pleasurable and productive.
Here, as elsewhere, Caliban shows his bestiality, impervious to the civilising influence of Art. In this he is set against Ferdinand in the main action: whereas Caliban is of ignoble birth, Ferdinand shows all the advantages of both his breeding and his education. As Miranda says of him,
I might call him
A thing diuine, for nothing naturall
I euer saw so Noble.
(I.ii.420-422)
That Shakespeare intended a comparison of Ferdinand and Caliban is clear from his juxtaposition of their first appearances, Ferdinand's following on Caliban's exit. 6.139 His entrance is graced with a song expressive of the order and harmony which he is to represent in the play:
Come vnto these yellow sands,
and then take hands:
Curtsied when you haue, and kist
the wilde waues whist.
(I.ii.377-380)
This is an invitation to dance - that is, an invitation to partake of the order and harmony Prospero intends bringing about, presaged in the calming of the storm, the kissing of its 'wilde waues whist'. 6.140 In fact the music itself betokens harmony and order, for Ferdinand says of it:
... sitting on a banke,
Weeping againe the King my Fathers wracke.
This Musicke crept by me vpon the waters,
Allaying both their fury, and my passion
With it's sweet ayre ....
(I.ii.392-396)
The restoration of order which this song heralds is made more explicit by
- 352 -
the wonderful image of the 'Sea-change' (I.ii.403) in the next, referring specifically to Alonso, whose remains are to be transformed 'Into something rich, & strange' (I.ii.404) - that is, his life is to be converted from its sinful, rebellious state into one more ordered and harmonious, and the agent producing this change is to be the sea, hostile in appearance but benevolent in effect, pointed by the fact that no harm is done to those who are marooned, even to the extent that their clothes retain 'their freshnesse and glosses' (II.i.61-62) despite being immersed in the sea. That the sea is an agent of redemption is apparent when Alonso first becomes aware of his great guilt and expresses his contrition:
O, it is monstrous: monstrous:
Me thought the billowes spoke, and told me of it,
The windes did sing it to me: and the Thunder
(That deepe and dreadfull Organ-pipe) pronounc'd
The name of Prosper: it did base my Trespasse,
Therefore my Sonne i'th Ooze is bedded; and
I'le seeke him deeper then ere plummet sounded,
And with him there lye mudded.
(III.iii.95-102)
This reminds us of Ariel's first two songs, which nullify the violence and disorder of the opening tempest as far as Ferdinand is concerned, making it possible for him to fall in love with Miranda without too much incongruity (bearing in mind that he thinks his father newly dead). 6.141
This is not to say that Ferdinand is allowed peace at this early stage in the action, for one conflict is replaced by another: no sooner has he seen Miranda and fallen in love with her than Prospero, 'least too light winning | Make the prize light' (I.ii.454-455), invents accusations against Ferdinand, in spirit similar to those Simonides used against Pericles. Here, Prospero's indictment is heavily ironic, since he has himself committed this crime against Caliban:
... Thou do'st heere vsurpe
The name thou ow'st not, and hast put thy selfe
Vpon this Island, as a spy, to win it
From me, the Lord on't.
(I.ii.456-459)
Naturally this upsets Miranda, and initiates a conflict between her and her father when she speaks up in Ferdinand's defence. This only annoys Prospero further and his treatment of the young suitor is not unlike his harsh treatment of Caliban:
- 353 -
Ile manacle thy necke and feete together:
Sea water shalt thou drinke: thy food shall be
The fresh-brooke Mussels, wither'd roots, and huskes
Wherein the Acorne cradled. Follow.
(I.ii.464-467)
Such threats cannot go unanswered, but violence is averted, when Ferdinand prepares to resist, being thwarted by an imperious display of Prospero's power: 'He drawes, and is charmed from mouing' (I.ii.469). When we next see him Ferdinand is wholly in Prospero's thrall, carrying 'Some thousands of these Logs' (III.i.10), and although there is no stage direction for it, nor any indication in the text, he should be fettered with the manacles Prospero had mentioned earlier, to show both his suffering and servitude. Despite this, the scene is not gloomy: Ferdinand is bowed to his task bodily, but not in spirit, so proving he is worthy of Miranda, as even Prospero admits later:
... All thy vexations
Were but my trials of thy loue, and thou
Hast strangely stood the test ....
(IV.i.5-7)
Here again Ferdinand may be contrasted with Caliban: the latter not only refuses to submit to Prospero's ruling, but wishes to take his daughter by force.
Caliban's disordered lechery can have no place in Prospero's plan for fertility and regeneration, and he is most severe in his injunction to Ferdinand on the matter:
If thou do'st breake her Virgin-knot, before
All sanctimonious ceremonies may
With full and holy right, be ministred,
No sweet aspersion shall the heauens let fall
To make this contract grow; but barraine hate,
Sower-ey'd disdaine, and discord shall bestrew
The vnion of your bed, with weedes so loathly
That you shall hate it both ....
(IV.i.15-22)
The relationship between order and fecundity is give further expression in the lovely masque episode which follows. Ceres makes a point of ensuring that Venus and Cupid are absent, since they are both associated with the lust and passions of love rather than the chastity expected of Miranda and Ferdinand. Only when their absence is confirmed (and hence the purity of Ferdinand and Miranda ensured) does she bestow her blessing:
- 354 -
Earths increase, foyzon plentie,
Barnes, and Garners, neuer empty.
Vines, with clustring bunches growing,
Plants, with goodly burthen bowing:
Spring come to you at the farthest,
In the very end of Haruest.
(IV.i.110-115)
This vision of plenty, 'Harmonious charmingly' (IV.i.119), is what has inspired Prospero in his quest for order: he does not want to recover his dukedom for himself, but rather to entrust it to the younger generation to instil it with new life and vigour. Regeneration is a major theme in The Tempest, as it is in the earlier romances, and the 'gracefull dance' (IV.i.138) of the nymphs and 'Sun-burn'd Sicklemen' (IV.i.134) is suggestive of the harmony and order attending it.
The masque is abruptly terminated and the dancers scattered when 'Prospero starts sodainly and speakes, after which to a strange hollow and confused noyse, they heauily vanish' (IV.i.138). This sudden disruption is caused by the intrusion of the sub-plot, with Caliban's conspiracy against Prospero's life, and leads to Prospero's famous speech on dissolution, 'Our Reuels now are ended' (IV.i.148). There is a dramatic change in tone from the optimistic, harmonious vision of fertility contained in the masque, to this, of the futility of all man's enterprises:
The Clowd-capt Towres, the gorgeous Pallaces,
The solemne Temples, the great Globe it selfe,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolue,
And like this insubstantiall Pageant faded
Leaue not a racke behinde ....
(IV.i.152-156)
This idea of reversion to chaos quite negates any thought of regeneration put forward in the masque, and the two conflicting views reflect the state of Prospero's mind, firstly when he is preoccupied with the happiness of the young lovers, and then when he has to abandon this to attend to the disorderly conduct of Caliban, reflected in the 'strange hollow and confused noyse' with which the masque ends. Disorder and regeneration are incompatible, and the forwarding of the love affair between Ferdinand and Miranda must be deferred until order is restored.
This requires the most violent action in the play, since the bestial Caliban and the low born Stephano and Trinculo respond to nothing but physical discomfort or pain. For their correction, they are cruelly treated by Ariel, who leads them
- 355 -
... through
Tooth'd briars, sharpe firzes, pricking gosse, & thorns,
Which entred their fraile shins: at last I left them
I'th' filthy mantled poole beyond your Cell.
(IV.i.179-182)
This violent purging is related with evident enjoyment by Ariel: here the three conspirators are comic figures and we find their pain and discomfort amusing. When they arrive on the stage, they 'do smell all horse-pisse' (IV.i.199), at which their noses are 'in great indignation' (IV.i.200). This detail, so aptly expressed, makes us laugh - but it has a serious function as well: the 'filthy mantled poole' is their baptismal font, their immersion being part of the process of reforming them. They emerge complaining, but unrepentant, and the smell of 'horse-pisse' appropriately suggests their rotten inner states. Their side-tracking by the 'glistering apparell' (IV.i.193), at least as far as Stephano and Trinculo are concerned, shows their preoccupation with outside appearance - they wish to deck their dirty exteriors in finery, with no thought to the inner men their filthy clothes represent. Their further tormenting by 'diuers Spirits in shape of Dogs and Hounds' (IV.i.254) provides a comic, noisy and disorderly spectacle with which to end the scene, and we hear that Prospero's goblins are to
... grinde their joynts
With dry Convultions, shorten vp their sinews
With aged Cramps, & more pinch-spotted make them,
Then Pard, or Cat o' Mountaine.
(IV.i.258-261)
The torments of the low-life characters are all violently physical, in keeping with their humble birth and station. Those of noble stock are treated with more refinement, but no less severity: their torment is mostly spiritual. They too wander 'Through fourth rights, & Meanders' (III.iii.3) until they are exhausted, but this is to prepare them for the banquet and dance to which they are seemingly invited. Like all previous feasts in the comedies, this one is associated with concord and reconciliation, a significance not, apparently, lost on the nobles:
Al.
What harmony is this? my good friends, harke.
Gon.
Maruellous sweet Musicke.
(III.iii.18-19)
The timing of the arrival of food should not escape our attention, for in the Folio the stage direction appears just before Antonio and Sebastian
- 356 -
have finished discussing their conspiracy and it seems, therefore, to interrupt them. Caught, as they are, in the midst of their evil plotting, it would be most inappropriate for them to sit down to feast with Alonso, whose life they are planning to take; and Alonso himself still bears the guilt of connivance in the removal of Prospero from power. Thus, amid 'Thunder and Lightning' (III.iii.52), which once again reflect the various disorders, 'the Banquet vanishes' (III.iii.52) under the supervision of 'Ariell (like a Harpey)' (III.ii.52). The harpies were goddesses of tempests in Greek mythology, and they made it 'their habit to snatch and devour food from tables, or else to soil the table, spreading filth and stench and causing famine', 6.142 and so Ariel's disguise is entirely appropriate here. The 'filth and stench' which he no doubt brings with him has a similar function to the 'horse-pisse' of the 'filthy mantled poole': it represents the inner state of Alonso and his retinue. Their attempt at defending themselves with drawn swords meets the same response from Ariel as had Ferdinand's from Prospero - 'Your swords are now too massie for your strengths, | And will not be vplifted' (III.iii.67-68) - and in this way physical violence is averted.
The alarming events of this scene, together with Ariel's speech of accusation, lead to the inner purgation of the 'three men of sinne' (III.iii.53), to such an extent that they become helplessly 'distracted' (V.i.12). Now Prospero can note with some satisfaction, 'At this houre | Lies at my mercy all mine enemies' (IV.i.262-263), and we prepare ourselves to witness his vengeance. As he has already given his daughter to Alonso's son, it seems unlikely that his wrath will move him to violence here; but for Antonio and Sebastian the outlook is grim, as it is also for Caliban and his associates. Suddenly, however, Prospero reveals his intentions (which might have been suspected all along, this being a romance):
Thogh with their high wrongs I am strook to th' quick,
Yet, with my nobler reason, gainst my furie
Doe I take part: the rarer Action is
In vertue, then in vengeance: they, being penitent,
The sole drift of my purpose doth extend
Not a frowne further ....
(V.i.25-30)
Prospero's resolution is not achieved without some inner conflict, his 'nobler reason' opposing his baser desire for revenge. Kott views the island as a Theatrum Mundi in which
- 357 -
Shakespeare's history of the world is played out, in an abbreviated form. It consists of a struggle for power, murder, revolt and violence. 6.143
The remarkable thing about The Tempest is, in fact, its contradiction of this world history. Instead of the tragic consequences of usurpation found so frequently repeated, in Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Hamlet and the histories, here Prospero has so arranged things that violent revenge lies at his fingertips, and yet he shuns it in favour of forgiveness. In As You Like It the possibility of revenge never arises, and so although Duke Frederick's usurping of power is part of the plot, a harmonious conclusion is reached without the sacrifice on Duke Senior's part which Prospero has to make. The power struggle between Don Pedro and Don John in Much Ado About Nothing is more akin to those in The Tempest, the tragedies and histories, and in it revenge is the closing thought of the play, with Benedick promising 'ile deuise thee braue punishments' (Much Ado V.iv.125-126). In the Shakespearean canon The Tempest is unique in its treatment of political disorder, conflict and violence, since it achieves its happy conclusion by a denial of the natural human penchant for retribution.
To bring about the final state of harmony Shakespeare has Prospero use music, which here serves a similar function to that which calmed Pericles after his discovery of Marina. In The Tempest it releases the spell Prospero has put on those within his magic circle:
A solemne Ayre, and the best comforter,
To an vnsetled fancie, Cure thy braines
(Now vselesse) [boil'd] within thy skull ....
(V.i.58-60) 6.144
While the men are still in their 'vnsetled fancie' Prospero pronounces his forgiveness. Alonso is quick to repent and amity is soon restored between the fathers of the young couple to be married. Antonio, on the other hand, is silent, and the impression is given that he is unrepentant, for he never surrenders his control of Milan voluntarily; Prospero is magnanimous but firm in dealing with him:
For you (most wicked Sir) whom to call brother
Would euen infect my mouth, I do forgiue
Thy rankest fault; all of them: and require
My Dukedome of thee, which, perforce I know
Thou must restore.
(V.i.130-134)
This is Prospero's greatest moment in the play, but his generosity is
- 358 -
greeted by sullen silence: the only words Antonio speaks after this come later, and refer to Caliban as 'a plaine Fish, and no doubt marketable' (V.i.266), which is not only uncharitable to Caliban (although more than likely true), but also shows that Antonio is unchanged, still grasping after things material.
When Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo make their last appearance they are pathetic figures, thoroughly cowed by their remarkable experiences of chastisement. There is no contrition shown by Stephano and Trinculo: perhaps they are too drunk, 'reeling ripe' with 'grand Liquor' - 'in such a pickle' (V.i.279, 280 and 282). This need not be held against them, however: they are comic figures who have been punished for their misguided aspirations, and they will no doubt continue in their debauched ways when they return to Milan. Caliban, on the other hand, realises how foolish he has been, and aims to make amends:
... Ile be wise hereafter,
And seeke for grace: what a thrice double Asse
Was I to take this drunkard for a god?
And worship this dull foole?
(V.i.294-297)
He is directed by Prospero to get to work cleaning his cell, and this is the last we are told of him. I can see no reason for assuming that he will journey to Milan with the rest, where he would be a miserable misfit, a commodity to be admired and marvelled over by the likes of Antonio and Sebastian. Shakespeare, I feel, intends him a happier fate: when Prospero regains his dukedom, Caliban regains his island, his natural habitat, where he can return to his harmless existence unmolested, listening to his music and dreaming his visions of plenty:
... the Isle is full of noyses,
Sounds, and sweet aires, that giue delight and hurt not:
Sometimes a thousand twangling Instruments
Will hum about mine eares; and sometime voices,
That if I then had wak'd after long sleepe,
Will make me sleepe againe, and then in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open, and shew riches
Ready to drop vpon me, that when I wak'd
I cri'de to dreame againe.
(III.ii.133-141)
A character given such a speech would not be viewed unsympathetically by Shakespeare, since none of his villains is sensitive to music. Caliban has been a victim of usurpation, like Prospero, but his suffering was necessary if a greater good, the restoration of order in Milan, was to be
- 359 -
achieved. Caliban illustrates a tenet of twentieth century anthropology, that the early colonists and missionaries, in imposing their culture and religion on the natives of the lands they took over, did not always improve the lives of the people they sought to civilise. Caliban is a pawn in the conflict between Art and Nature in The Tempest, 6.145 with Prospero making the decisive moves to which Caliban is forced to submit. The only resolution possible, since Caliban cannot be educated, requires that he should be abandoned.
The lack of reform in Antonio, Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo makes Prospero's venture a qualified success; but we are, nevertheless, left at the end of the play with a profound sense of harmony and regeneration, which must be largely attributed to Ferdinand and Miranda. Their union has given rise to the amity between their fathers, and so they have been the means whereby political differences have been settled. It is therefore highly appropriate that they should be discovered shortly before the close of the last act 'playing at Chesse' (V.i.171), a game involving a power struggle between opposing sets of kings and queens and all their retinues. The political struggle in the game, however, is made a means of expressing love:
Mir.
Sweet Lord, you play me false.
Fer.
No my dearest loue,
I would not for the world.
Mir.
Yes, for a score of Kingdomes, you should wrangle,
And I would call it faire play.
(V.i.172-175)
This, in embryo, is the message of the play, and it explains why Prospero has forgiven his enemies despite their lack of repentance: contrary to what his harsh rule may lead us to believe, he is an essentially benign, philanthropic man at the end. The order which he has created would not have been possible without the help of Gonzalo, and it is he who gives the most enduring expression to the final state of happiness and prosperity, attributing Prospero's success to the gods:
[Gon.]
... looke downe you gods
And on this couple drop a blessed crowne;
For it is you, that haue chalk'd forth the way
Which brought vs hither.
Alo.
I say Amen, Gonzalo.
Gon.
Was Millaine thrust from Millaine, that his Issue
Should become Kings of Naples? O reioyce
Beyond a common ioy, and set it downe
With gold on lasting Pillers ....
(V.i.201-208)
- 360 -
The play ends with a promise of 'calme Seas, auspicious gales' (V.i.314), which are an emblem of the newly restored order, just as the opening tempest was of chaos. Prospero's epilogue is the conventional request for applause, but it invites the audience to participate in the closing state of harmony, bidding them reflect on what Prospero has achieved through forgiveness, and apply it in their own lives:
... my ending is despaire,
Vnless I be relieu'd by praier
Which pierces so, that it assaults
Mercy it selfe, and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardon'd be,
Let your Indulgence set me free.
(V.i.15-20)
After Shakespeare completed The Tempest it seems likely that he worked on Henry VIII in collaboration with Fetcher, although the role played by the latter has been disputed. 6.146 This play, although properly classified as a history, has much in common with the four romances, showing the drift of the playwright's mind in these last years. 6.147 What is of particular relevance here is the theme of regeneration which is the major concern of Henry VIII: Buckingham, Wolsey and Katherine all meet their deaths with patience and sublimity, brought about by the hope of redemption after death, and Katherine's final scene typifies this mood:
Cause the Musitians play me that sad note
I nam'd my Knell; whil'st I sit meditating
On that Coelestiall Harmony I go too.
Sad and solemne Musicke
(IV.ii.78-80) 6.148
There follows a vision of this 'Coelestiall Harmony' which would not have been out of place in any of the romances, with its ceremonial dance by 'sixe Personages, clad in white Robes' (IV.ii.82). Music is used in all of the romances to enhance a sense of divine order, and this is often given further emphasis by the visual impact of the orderly movements of a dance, as it is here. Katherine's vision of heavenly order is followed by a reference to her daughter, Mary, her hope of future prosperity for England; but Mary is replaced at the end of the play, in Cranmer's prophetic vision, by Elizabeth:
- 361 -
This Royall Infant, Heauen still moue about her;
Though in her Cradle; yet now promises
Vpon this Land a thousand Blessings,
Which Time shall bring to ripeness ...
(V.iv.17-20)
and James:
Where euer the bright Sunne of Heauen shall shine,
His Honour, and the greatnesse of his Name,
Shall be, and make new Nations. He shall flourish
And like a Mountain Cedar, reach his branches,
To all the Plaines about him: Our Childrens Children
Shall see this, and blesse Heauen.
(V.iv.50-55)
The modification of violence so that it is benign in effect, the vision of fecundity, and the function of Time as a healer, bringing about regeneration, are all to be found here and in the romances. The expansive 'Mountain Cedar' extending protection to 'all the Plaines about him' is James, and this royal image recalls the tree in Cymbeline, onto which the royal sons were grafted after being lost in childhood.
Another feature shared by Henry VIII and the romances is the suffering of the innocent. Alongside Katherine we may place Pericles, Marina, Thaisa, Imogen, Hermione and Prospero; where the characters from the romances differ from Katherine is that they live to see order restored, and their visions of plenty fulfilled, usually after a period of suffering which may extend over many years. In Henry VIII the final peace and prosperity is used as a compliment to the reigning monarch and lies well outside the bounds of the action, in the distant future. It is, as well, attributed to divine intervention in that Cranmer claims his vision is heaven-sent, so giving the royal compliment a deeper significance. In each of the romances the final order and happiness is at least partly credited to the gods, making it seem more enduring than anything that might have been achieved by mere human agency.
In some respects Henry VIII is unlike the romances: one obvious point is their use of supernatural powers, other than divine, in putting right some malady which would otherwise mar the final state of harmony. This is encountered before the romances in All's Well That Ends Well, in which Helena uses her Art to cure the King; in Pericles the idea is taken further in that Thaisa is actually raised from the dead by Cerimon. In Cymbeline there is no use of magic in this sense, but the Queen's evil use of what closely resembles a magic potion should not be overlooked;
- 362 -
and in The Winter's Tale Hermione is brought to life by Paulina's Art, while in The Tempest the entire action depends on Prospero's use of magic. In general, then, magic is used in Shakespeare's romances to good effect, in the restoration of order.
In Cymbeline and The Winter's Tale the conflict between old and young generations is a major factor in the construction of the plot, and it also finds a place in The Tempest. Even in the absence of such conflict, however, the presence of old and young in equally prominent roles is used in all of the romances as an important device: both generations are involved in the struggle to win order out of chaos, but the ability to bring fertility and regeneration at the close of these plays naturally belongs to the young. Opposed to the attaining of regeneration we usually find a measure of sexual licence and disorder in the romances which prevents the realisation of harmony taking place, at least before proper sexual conduct is restored. In Pericles this takes the form of incest in the early part of the play, later being replaced by the sexual licence of the brothel scenes. The principal sexual deviant in Cymbeline is Cloten, while in The Winter's Tale sexual abnormality is observed in Leontes' jealousy as well as Autolycus' frivolity. In The Tempest it is Caliban who gives expression to animal lust, contrasted with the purity and chastity of Ferdinand and Miranda.
A further conflict encountered in the romances is that between nobility and the lower classes, but this is by no means unique to these plays: in Coriolanus it is a major issue, but it is also encountered to varying extents in almost every play by Shakespeare. In the comedies the sub-plots usually contain characters of lowly status whose actions are to be compared and contrasted with their superiors' in the main plots. The romances, however, may be distinguished by their treatment of this theme, in which nobility of character is seen as inherited: those of low birth cannot aspire to these qualities except through virtuous deeds. Even this treatment is not entirely absent in the earlier plays, and Helena in All's Well The Ends Well serves as a good example of one of low birth, but worthy of a noble marriage because of her innate virtue. Posthumus can be regarded in the same way, but more importantly, the latent nobility of Guiderius and Arviragus can be seen struggling against their lowly upbringing in the Welsh mountains; there is also Perdita, whose noble qualities attract the attention of Florizel despite her humble circumstances. The shepherds, too, are contrasted with royalty both during the sheep-shearing and when they make their way to Leontes' court. In The Tempest the theme receives a broader treatment, with the struggle between Prospero and Caliban representing this conflict at its most basic level; Stephano and Trinculo are higher up the evolutionary scale than Caliban and their rejection of civilised standards makes them more culpable than he is. On the other hand, Antonio and Sebastian represent nobility which has been degraded, and so their guilt is greater than that of Stephano and Trinculo. The interactions and conflicts between these groups are a major concern of The Tempest.
Finally, the romances also have in common the separation of families, and wandering, or exile, over a number of years, in widely separated locations, usually accompanied by some degree of violence, often sympathetically reflected in storms and tempests. Pericles furnishes the extreme example of this, with its many disastrous sea voyages; but similar cases are found in The Winter's Tale and The Tempest with their sea storms, and in Cymbeline, where the King and his children are separated, as are the young married couple Posthumus and Imogen. In all cases it is some form of conflict, disorder and violence which initiates the separation, but once this is set to rights, reconciliation becomes possible. Quiller-Couch's final comments on The Tempest are applicable to all of the romances: they are filled with 'wisdom and charity, with forgiveness, tender ruth for all men and women growing older, and perennial trust in young love'. 6.149 They illustrate the transition from a state of disorder, through violence and conflict, to a final harmonious condition, and invariably sterility is associated with disorder in a barren land, while harmony is the harbinger of fertility and regeneration.
- 368 -
- - - NOTES: CHAPTER SIX - - -
6.113 Tillyard, Last Plays, p.1. return
6.114 Rose Abdelnour Zimbardo, 'Form and Disorder n The Tempest', Shakespeare Quarterly, 14 (1963), 49. return
6.116 D.S. McGovern, '"Tempus" in The Tempest', English, 32 (1983), 205. return
6.120 Quiller-Couch, Workmanship, pp.344-347. return
6.121 Quoted by Dryden in 'An Essay of Dramatic Poesy'; see W.D. Maxwell-Mahon, p.74. return
- 369 -
6.122 Line numbers are taken from William Shakespeare, The Tempest, ed. Frank Kermode, 6th ed. (London: Methuen, 1980). return
6.123 I.i.28-33, 46-48 and 57-59. Proteus uses the same joke in The Two Gentlemen of Verona I.i.142-144. return
6.125 The ruins of ancient Carthage are to be found in the suburbs of modern Tunis. return
6.126 See pp.323-324 and n.78 above. return
6.127 Chambers, p.305; Riemer, p.129; Zimbardo, p.52. return
6.128 The similarity between Prospero and Sycorax has been noted by Margreta de Grazia, 'The Tempest: Gratuitous Movement or Action without Kibes and Pinches', Shakespeare Studies, 14 (1981), 255; she traces both to a common literary ancestor, 'Medea, the consummate avenger and sorceress of antiquity' (p.257). return
6.131 Ann Pasternak Slater, 'Variations within a Source: From Isaiah XXIX to The Tempest', Shakespeare Survey, 25 (1972), 125-135. return
6.132 O.E.D., I, 627: 'ariel1 ... appellation of Jerusalem, where it is taken as = 'lion of God"'. return
6.134 Ibid., p.pp.130-134. return
6.136 Kermode, pp.xxxiv-xliii; Bullough, VIII, 253-258. return
6.137 John E. Hankins, 'Caliban the Bestial Man', Publications of the Modern Language Association, 62 (1947), 797. return
6.138 This has been observed by Wilson Knight, Crown, p.238 and Hankins, p.800. return
6.139 The comparison with Caliban has been noted by Pafford, pp.xlix and li. return
6.142 Guirand, p.146. Satan's banquet laid before Christ in Milton's Paradise Regained is removed in this way:
With that
Both table and provision vanished quite
With sounds of harpies' wings and talons heard.
(Paradise Regained II.401-403)
(The edition of Paradise Regained cited is that by Douglas Bush, ed., Milton: Poetical Works (London: Oxford University Press, 1969).) See also Pafford, p.89 n. return
6.143 Kott, p.250; see also p.245. return
6.144 Folio has 'boile' in line 60; the emendation is Rowe's: see Pafford, p.116 col. and n. return
6.145 Kermode, pp.xlvii-liv. return
6.146 William Shakespeare, Henry VIII, ed. R.A. Foakes (London: Methuen, 1957), pp.xv-xxvi (hereafter cited as Foakes, Henry VIII). return
6.147 The similarities in theme and approach in the last plays have been widely noted and discussed: Wilson Knight, Crown, pp.14-31 (comparisons of the romances with each
- 370 -
other and with the rest of Shakespeare's works are scattered throughout this work); Bullough, VIII, 23, 123, 242 and 378-379; Foakes, Henry VIII, pp.xliii-xliv and lxi-lxii; Hoeniger, pp.lxxi-lxxiv; I am particularly indebted to Pafford, pp.xxxvii-l. return
6.148 Line numbers are taken from the edition by Foakes, cited above. return
6.149 Quiller-Couch, Workmanship, p.362. return
Proceed to Chapter Seven